June 3rd – It’s been re-released to death but the original is
the only live album authorized for release by the maker. This original,
released just six months before he died in September 1970, was part of a legal
settlement to an ex-manager (thank goodness) and what was produced changed me
forever.
The Band of Gypsies
album (certified gold status on this day in 1970) with Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox and Buddy
Miles, is a seminal piece of playing, and one track in particular, Machine Gun, is a heart-stopping piece
of work. It is and possibly always will be the benchmark as to what can be
achieved with a Fender Strat, a Marshall amp, a speaker stack and a bunch of
what would now be classed as antique effects pedals; a Fuzz Box, Wah-Wah Pedal,
a Univibe and an Octavia Pedal. Those who witnessed the gig (there’s a
possibility I could pledge my soul to the Devil to go back and do just that)
said Mr. Hendrix stood abnormally still during the gig, unlike his usual
pantomime antics, which was probably due to his only having these pedals
grouped together for the first time that night.
Not gonna waste too much time bleating on about its pedigree, just to say if you've not heard it then your education is sadly lacking. If ever there was a living, breathing, damned-to-hell for your existence, dance on your grave condemnation of the twisted mind of us humans, Machine Gun is it…it’s the rock equivalent of Dylan’s Masters of War swapping Dylan’s neat prose for a fuck-off as big as a continent. There’s talk of Mr. Hendrix being spiked with two half-tabs of acid before he went on stage (find that doubtful given his lucidity during the session but Buddy Miles, no less, says it’s so and also blaming the giver, Michael Jeffrey – Mr. Hendrix’s new manager – for that incident and also for contributing to Mr. Hendrix’s eventual death; take from that what you will).
Not gonna waste too much time bleating on about its pedigree, just to say if you've not heard it then your education is sadly lacking. If ever there was a living, breathing, damned-to-hell for your existence, dance on your grave condemnation of the twisted mind of us humans, Machine Gun is it…it’s the rock equivalent of Dylan’s Masters of War swapping Dylan’s neat prose for a fuck-off as big as a continent. There’s talk of Mr. Hendrix being spiked with two half-tabs of acid before he went on stage (find that doubtful given his lucidity during the session but Buddy Miles, no less, says it’s so and also blaming the giver, Michael Jeffrey – Mr. Hendrix’s new manager – for that incident and also for contributing to Mr. Hendrix’s eventual death; take from that what you will).
Anyway, all I can say is that you
need to listen to this and when you do remember two things.
1) It was recorded in 1970 (that’s 43
years ago in old money) by a guy playing an upside-down Strat.
2) If you have a rock soul you’ll be
changed for life. If that doesn't happen then the Devil has already laid claim
to it and you’ll spend the rest of your musical life in the purgatory that is Chirpy-Chirpy-Cheep-Cheep hell…
No comments:
Post a Comment